Zoom execs claim its new workplace product is winning sales away from Microsoft’s ‘clunky’ competitor in leaked video

• Zoom earlier this year acquired employee-engagement platform Workvivo.
• Zoom execs told employees Workvivo wins 80% of sales versus Microsoft’s “clunky” competitor, Viva.
• Zoom is actively looking for new products to boost its tepid revenue growth.

According to a recording of an all-hands meeting viewed by Insider, Zoom executives claim that the company’s new employee engagement product, Workvivo, wins up to 80% of sales when competing against Microsoft’s product, Viva.

Zoom acquired Workvivo, an Irish employee engagement platform founded in 2017, earlier this year. According to the executive comments made during that August 3 meeting, Zoom recently rolled it out to its own employees.

Microsoft launched its own Viva employee engagement platform in 2021 and updated it earlier this year to include its employee message board Yammer, now called Viva Engage.

DJ Cahill, Workvivo’s Head of Sales, told employees that when Zoom’s product competes with Microsoft Viva, Workvivo wins 70% to 80% of the sales.

“We very rarely lose,” Cahill said, adding that even when a sale is lost, customers often return “within three to six months when they discover that adoption is really, really difficult, the user experience is just so clunky, and they are unable to achieve what they want with Viva.”

CEO Eric Yuan stated that Microsoft’s “clunky experience” represents a “huge opportunity” for Zoom account executives. “We have a much better product and can sell a lot more,” he explained.

The Workvivo executives did not disclose specific sales figures during the meeting, but the product — a small startup until recently — is unlikely to have had the same total sales volume as Microsoft.

Cahill, Workvivo’s sales director, stated as much when he stated that the company simply needs to “get in a lot more conversations,” but that packaging the product with Zoom will help.

Employee engagement is a new area for Zoom as it seeks new areas of growth by expanding its workplace products. While Zoom just reported a profitable second quarter, its tepid 3.6% revenue growth for the quarter isn’t helping a stock price that is down about 20% over the last year and nearly 88% from its pandemic-driven highs in 2020. Zoom is attempting to change its culture by sending many employees back to offices on a regular basis because, as Yuan stated at the meeting, even the company’s own remote-work product does not allow employees to build as much trust or be as innovative as they would if they were in an office.

Employee engagement software is a relatively new market that combines workplace chat tools with sections for corporate news, employee goal tracking, employee directories, and other similar features. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market is currently worth $911 million and has the potential to grow to $2.75 billion by 2030.

Microsoft declined to comment, and Zoom did not respond to an inquiry.